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Almost 14 years after retiring from the sport he dominated for two decades, Wayne Gretzky can still make headlines without even trying.

In the Twitter-verse age, in the age of social media and blogs and citizen journalists, his newsworthiness may even have been increased, perhaps exponentially.

That’s how, on Tuesday, a radio discussion about the idea of Gretzky becoming the next president of the Maple Leafs exploded within minutes into a news story, with speculation and denials and Twittered messages of possibilities.

There was no news report to begin with, no direct confirmation Gretzky had been interviewed for the position or would even be interested.

It was just a discussion on the popular Prime Time Sports radio program, hosted by Bob McCown on Sportsnet The Fan 590. At about 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday, McCown, former NHLer Nick Kypreos and myself discussed low-level, unconfirmed rumours that Gretzky could be a candidate to be the next prez of the Leafs, a position left open by the recent firing of Brian Burke.

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Burke was replaced as GM of the team by Dave Nonis, but not as team president. The consensus in the radio discussion was that Gretzky would be a worthy candidate.

Within a matter of minutes, the “story” of Gretzky joining the Leafs was trending on Twitter across the country.

Such is the age we live in. Such is the reach, apparently, of McCown’s 25-year-old radio show.

Such is the legend of Gretzky.

And you know what? Why not? Why wouldn’t Gretzky be a very good candidate to fill Burke’s shoes as team president? Why wouldn’t the Leafs have interest?

It’s not like he has no experience as a suit running a successful hockey program. He was executive director of Team Canada in 2002 when Canada won gold in the men’s hockey competition at the Salt Lake City Olympics, and stayed in that role for several years.

He’s been an NHL player, owner and head coach. He has more experience in different hockey roles than did Ken Dryden before he became president of the Maple Leafs in 1997, and under Dryden the Leafs twice went to the Final Four.

So Gretzky as Leaf president, as a hockey person to oversee the hockey operation, certainly doesn’t defy logic. The new ownership tandem of Bell and Rogers didn’t like Burke’s style — that’s really the only reason that’s ever been given for his dismissal — but certainly couldn’t find fault with Gretzky’s, given he has been a leading ambassador for the sport around the world for three decades.

Whether Gretzky would have any interest in such a position is totally unclear. He lives in California, but his children are older now, and he’s never ruled out getting involved in the NHL again despite his financial losses in the bankruptcy of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Do the Leafs need a team president? That’s for them to decide. Most successful teams have someone in that role, many have an individual in the dual role of president and GM, such as was held by Burke.

MLSE chief operating officer Tom Anselmi told the Star’s Kevin McGran there have been “no discussions of any type” with Gretzky.

Former stars like Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille, Kevin Lowe, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joe Sakic and Ron Francis have taken executive positions with teams, while Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake work in the NHL front office. Mario Lemieux, of course, is a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It seems logical to imagine Gretzky will ultimately return in some capacity with some team. He almost signed with the Leafs in 1996 to realize a childhood dream, and was willing to play for Toronto for a lesser salary just to try to make it happen.

As long as Gretzky’s not aligned with any team, speculation will continue about what’s next for The Great One.

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